“We’re excited to offer our first endorsements of 2017 to a diverse and impressive roster of candidates, all of whom are dedicated to making New York City’s streets safer and our transit system better,” said Eric McClure, Executive Director of StreetsPAC. “We look forward to helping elect, or re-elect, each and every one of them to the City Council.”

“Interest in safe, complete streets, and in subways and buses that run reliably, are more important to New Yorkers than ever before,” said Hilda Cohen, a founding member of StreetsPAC’s board. “More and more, we find that people are ‘Vision Zero voters’ – these issues really determine their choices in the voting booth."

More than 60 candidates for City Council have responded to StreetsPAC’s questionnaire, and StreetsPAC has been conducting personal interviews with candidates for the past several weeks.

“We’ll be making multiple rounds of endorsements,” said StreetsPAC board member Peter Frishauf. “Our recommendations will serve as a guide for voters who care about living in a safe, walkable, bikeable city, and one with a reliable transit system. They’ll be able to go to the polls knowing these candidates share and understand their challenges and desires."

The five City Council candidates receiving StreetsPAC’s initial endorsements are running to represent very different districts and neighborhoods. Here’s a round-up:

Ben Kallos, Council District 5, Manhattan (Incumbent) – Kallos, who first won his East Side seat in 2013, is a Vice-Chair of the City Council’s Progressive Caucus. He’s committed to filling the gaps in the Second Avenue protected bike lane, and to adding additional crosstown bike lanes in his district. He’s also working to bring Citi Bike to Roosevelt Island, and Select Bus Service to 96th Street, and is dedicated to completion of the East Side Greenway.